NSBA's '20 to watch' education technology leaders will be honored at CoSN14CoSNLast week, the National School Boards Association named its annual 20 Ed Tech Leaders to Watch. The honorees, who come from 15 different states, are experts in highly diverse areas, but all share the ability to inspire their colleagues and enhance learning through their innovative technology solutions. We're very excited to recognize this group at CoSN14 this Wednesday! As several of the honorees are active CoSN members, the ceremony will be the perfect way to kick off the conference.

D2L webinar: Predictive analysis in the K-12 learning environment: How academy online high school is tracking student successDesire2LearnThe latest version of Learning Suite is here and it's changing the game! Whether you are a CIO, system administrators or faculty member at a higher education institution, Desire2Learn Learning Suite has features and functionality designed for you. At Desire2Learn, we understand that you each require a different set of tools to be successful in your role. We also understand that it's how all of these tools work together that ultimately improves student success and the overall efficiency of your institution.

Education technology is poised to go mainstreamForbesSix hours a day. That's how much time the average teenager spends online, according to a June 2013 study by McAfee. These are "digital natives," a generation that has grown up online and connected. Just think about it: students born in 2007, the year the iPhone was launched, are already in first grade. Students born during the dot-com boom of the late '90s are in high school.

New E-rate funding will take time to reach schoolsEducation Week Schools are under increasing strain to provide fast, reliable Internet access for teachers and students, and federal officials insist that help is coming. But will it arrive quickly enough?

Many districts go without a chief technology officerEducation WeekTechnology leadership in many districts is provided not by one person, but through whatever arrangements the school systems can muster. Even as schools juggle a daunting array of evolving technological demands, federal data show that roughly half of districts do not have a full-time chief technology officer or technology manager whose sole job is to oversee all digital needs.

Mobile study: Tablets make a difference in teaching and learningTHE JournalA pair of studies released Wednesday — the first of their kind — found that tablets can make a difference in the learning habits of students. The studies are part of a new Making Learning Mobile project, an attempt to quantify and qualify the benefits of mobile technology in education and the infrastructure needed to support mobile activities

7 steps to building strong school networkseSchool News Capable networks are an essential part of even the most straightforward school technology program, and now school technology leaders can follow seven steps to build strong and reliable school networks. The guidelines offer a look at education networks in general and examine how data, devices, and connectivity all impact networks' performance. The guide, which offers examples of how different districts are creating and sustaining strong networks, is part of the Consortium for School Networking's Smart Education Networks Design initiative, released in conjunction with Qualcomm Technologies.

Consortium for School NetworkingFrom Vision to Action: The 21st Century Teaching and Learning Plan. Designed to help educators understand and implement 21st century teaching and learning, the course includes readings, videos, presentations, questions designed to provide immediate feedback, application exercises and customizable tools that can be downloaded.

What to expect at CoSN 2014EdTech MagazineThis year's Consortium for School Networking conference, to be held in Washington, D.C., March 19–22, is set to be another grand effort to bring the nation’s education leaders up to speed on the latest in educational standards. The conference theme — "continuously connected, constantly learning" — speaks to the collaborative nature of a networked world and how educators can take advantage of the sector's collective wisdom. The learning aspect is geared toward student outreach, promising to give teachers the tools and skills needed to ensure students are learning in fresh, effective and innovative ways.

New E-rate funding will take time to reach schoolsEducation Week Schools are under increasing strain to provide fast, reliable Internet access for teachers and students, and federal officials insist that help is coming. But will it arrive quickly enough? Those familiar with the E-rate program predict that proposed changes to its funding — expected to pump an extra $2 billion into high-speed broadband over the next two years — are likely to produce significant benefits for the nation's schools over time, thanks in part to a new focus on supporting the use of new technologies.

Join us in improving education technology purchasing practicesDigital PromiseIt may seem like a bureaucratic, back-office business practice, but education technology procurement matters. In an environment of higher standards, stronger bandwidth, and more affordable devices, there is an opportunity for technological innovations to improve learning opportunities and outcomes for all students.

Scrutiny in California for software in schoolsThe New York TimesA leading California lawmaker planned to introduce state legislation that would shore up privacy and security protections for the personal information of students in elementary through high school, a move that could alter business practices across the nearly $8 billion education technology software industry. The bill would prohibit education-related websites, online services and mobile apps for kindergartners through 12th-graders from compiling, using or sharing the personal information of those students in California for any reason other than what the school intended or for product maintenance.

States show improvement on the 2013 Digital Learning Report CardTHE JournalDigital Learning Now has released the 2013 Digital Learning Report Card, which grades K-12 education policy in each of the 50 states against the group's 10 Elements of High Quality Digital Learning. This year only two states, Utah and Florida, received As, while 14 states received Fs and another 13 received Ds. "In 2013, more than 450 digital learning bills were debated and 132 were ultimately signed into law, bringing the total of enacted legislation since 2011 to more than 360," according to a news release from Digital Learning Now. "More than 20 states advanced an entire overall letter grade as measured by the Report Card."

Key lawmaker says report shows Michigan may not be ready for online testingThe Detroit News A key state lawmaker says Michigan may not be ready to move to a statewide assessment that is all-technology based, after a report shows less than half of Michigan's school districts are "technology" ready for online testing. "There are all sort of alarm bells going off about these assessments. This report might suggest serious trouble. I continue to meet with vendors about tests," said Sen. Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair Township, chairman of the Senate Education Committee.